Our Final Morning Here

Yesterday we went to Bethlehem and back to Holocaust Museum. It was a very emotional day for all of us.  We are packed and will not see our checked luggage again until we are stateside. We leave the hotel at 7:20 this morning for a very full last day in Jerusalem touring the city of David, more old city and communion at the garden tomb.  We will stop for a late supper on the way to the airport and depart at 11:20pm arriving around 4am i Newark. We depart at 8 and arrive in Omaha at 10:30.  Thanks for all your prayers. We are all well and ready for another full day in this beautiful city!

Jerusalem

We started our morning up on the Mount of Olives overlooking this beautiful city. We headed to Old Jerusalem and spent time in the Jewish quarter, at lunch at a "food court". We went to a museum to see the dead sea scrolls and a great replica of the old Jerusalem....and much more!

Tomorrow we head down to Bethlehem in the morning and back up to Jerusalem for more adventure. I can't believe tomorrow is our last night in this beautiful country.

All for tonight...not many internet minutes left....all are healthy and keeping up great with all the walking ....and eating!

We've Been to the Desert.....

We headed out this morning and headed up the Masada on a cable car. It amazes me that they would want to build and live and haul food and supplies up on that mountain. We also saw the area, or possible area the Israelites took to enter into the holy land. on our way up to Jerusalem we went through Be'er Sheva. We are now in Jerusalem and will be staying here the remainder of the time, venturing out during the day and back to the same hotel at nights so our last packing will be to head home. Internet time now is very expensive so I probably will not be uploading any more photos. We all will have a lot to share when we get home. I will try to make quick posts at the end of each day to let you know where we have been. All are healthy and getting in plenty of walking and learning so much!

Friday & Saturday photos

https://picasaweb.google.com/grammy4him/IsraelMar3?authuser=0&feat=directlink

adding to a difficult post....

...the last post didn't want to finish right, so we continue with a new one...

jones, ballards and jeffers,   we're at the lowest spot on earth, the dead sea. tommarrow on to jerusalem via masada. we'll show plentey of pictures later. love to all.

Saturday

Jackie here...Today we said goodbye to the Sea of Galilee and headed south through the Jordan valley with the country of Jordan always in view on our left.  Our first stop was Beth Shem, an ancient Roman city.  A man was singing in the amphitheatre and brought tears to our eyes.  We stopped at Qumran and saw the digs  where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  Then as we drove along the western shore of the Dead Sea we stopped at En Gedi and saw the caves where David hid from Saul. Words do not do justice to the range of emotions we all feel in a day, walking on this ancient soil and seeing Scripture come alive.

Hey...Sue here...this is absolutely unbelievable.  I will never read the bible in the same way...having a clearer picture of places that are being talked about...touching ancient walls where saints (and ain'ts) have touched...walking on cobblestone paths that were tread on by people we read about...it's been totally unreal.  So eye -opening.  Wonderful!

  

jones,ballards and jeffers,     we made it from the north end of israel to the south. we are at the dead sea

We Saw Snow!

After another huge breakfast, we loaded into our bus and headed north to the region of Dan and toured the Hermon Reserve.  We had a mixed bag of weather.  We covered with rain gear, with off and on showers in the morning and driving through snow up in the highest points.  We were definately making memories today.  As we drove through the Golan Heights, we visited Caesarea Philippi near the sight of the Transfiguration.  Ruthie shared her knowledge of the modern strategic and political significance of this area.  As we come back to our cozy hotel and huge supper spread, we turn on the news and realize that life is intirely different today for those who were litteraly a stones throw from where we were today.  We will have a lot of stories to share when we get back, and have enjoyed meeting people from all walks of life.  Is is really hard to describe an experience like this.  Photos just don't describe what we see with our eyes, and we are blessed to have Don and Wanda make scripture come to life as we walk on the very cobblestones our biblical forefathers walked on.    It makes a person better understand what Israel has gone through and continues with and why the USA should stand solidly behind them.
Tomorrow we pack the bus and leave the beautiful Sea of Galilee and head south down the Jordan Valley to the Dead Sea and Masada.  I did not have time to upload photos tonight, but hope to have longer than one hour of internet at the remaining hotels.  This one makes it difficult, when my tablet is difficult to copy and paste as well.  We are all grateful that all have taktn in every event. Ruthie says we are real troopers! good night and more for tomorrow, Lord willing.